2016 SEO Trends That All Internet Businesses Must Familiarize With

You have an online business website and you want to see it up in the top search engine results. Of course, you will have to do a lot of effort in order to make it to the top pages of major search engines.

The most important thing among all is your SEO (search engine optimization). If you look into the past, SEO was nothing more than spreading content over the internet with keywords stuffed in it. It was unfair as websites that surreptitiously managed to stuff keywords in their content were beating the websites that offered some useful content.

Google, being the “everything” of search engine world, started sending out algorithm updates. These updates were like an iron over the wrinkled fabric of search engine optimization. Finally, you have SEO in its finest form with changes still being made. Keeping up-to-date with these changes is crucially important for any online business to rise up in ranks.

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With every new year, webmasters have to familiarize with the rising SEO trends in order to keep their websites’ rankings stable. Similarly, 2016 has come with its own set of SEO changes. Here are some of the latest SEO trends in 2016 that every online business needs to familiarize with.

Video Content Is The Best Content

You must have heard “content is king” a lot if you often research SEO on the internet. In 2016 this has changed just a little. Today, video content is the king of all contents out there. According to the recent surveys and studies, the chances of buying a particular product increases in 64% more people who get to watch a video about that product. In fact, landing pages with video content are completely outperforming the conventional pages with only text or images.

According to the latest statistics, you will increase the conversion rate on your landing page by 80% if you introduced a video on it. Look around on the web and you will find that all SEO related websites are talking about the importance of video.

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This is why you will see many websites introducing small video loops in the background of their home page. Cisco has also made an incredible prediction that 69% of the consumers on the internet will be on the internet buying things and interacting only because of video in the coming year of 2017.

Nothing Without Mobile Optimization

If you are aware of your surroundings and the rest of the world, you don’t have to be told the importance of mobile devices for modern businesses. The world has moved from desktop computers to mobile devices in the past decade.

This journey took place faster than any expert could have estimated. Now that the whole world has smartphones and tablets, you need to make sure your website looks just as amazing on those screen sizes as it does on personal computers. Knowing the statistics pertaining to mobile users should definitely give you an idea how important mobile optimization is.

52% of the Americans will pull out their mobile phones when purchasing something from a store only to know more about the product. The thing that makes mobile users the best potential customers for any business is that mobile owners are great shoppers. The recent data on mobile users proves that mobile users are more prone to making online purchases than those who use computers for shopping. Out of every 5 mobile users, 4 use their phones to make a purchase.

Local SEO Is Even More Important

You must have started hearing the term “local SEO” just a few years back. It is because the importance of local search engine optimization was realized very late. However, as soon as Google realized its importance, the search engine giant worked on its algorithms to give special place to local SEO in its search results.

According to the statistics presented by Search Engine Watch, 61% of the people doing a local search on their mobile device or personal computer will end up buying something. According to the same websites, 59% of the internet users perform searches on Google only to find local businesses.

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Think about it yourself. If you were a consumer looking for a plumber to fix the leaking pipelines at your house, will you search for a plumber located on the other side of the world? You would make sure you include the name of your city and town in your search to find someone closest to your location. David Jenyns, an expert on local SEO, says that companies can beat 80% of their competitors by following the most basic rules of local SEO and not going into the complexities of many SEO tools and how they work.

Don’t Use Short Content

Yes, there was a time when the shorter and more informative your content was, the more people liked it. That’s not the case and the recent trend has shifted in exactly the opposite direction. However, you will have to make up your mind on what you call long-form content. As per an SEO expert from Dallas SEO Geek, the length of your content should be more than 1200 words easily. The importance of long-form SEO content has been proved in the past too, and more people are realizing its importance today.

Just look at the study that was conducted 4 years ago by serpIQ, in which, 20,000 keywords were used for a study. When the results were analyzed it was found out that the top 10 results were of articles and posts that were easily more than 2000 words. The content that beat all other contents and picked the number 1 spot after the study had close to 2500 words in it.

A member of the technical staff at google, namely Pandu Nayak, also suggested in one of his posts that Google is looking to give in-depth articles more attention as more people who searched for some particular topic on the internet wanted broad and detailed information on it.

50 Great People To Follow On LinkedIn, No Matter Your Industry

LinkedIn is an excellent platform to network with great people to help you in your career and businesses. However, with over 575 million people on the site, who should you follow? This list will steer you to the right people to follow, organized by categories of expertise.

Job Search Experts

You will likely have several jobs throughout the course of your career, and you will constantly need advice on new trends and strategies out there in the job market. Here are the LinkedIn experts who you should follow on these matters.

1. Liz Ryan is the CEO and founder of Human Workplace. Her articles on job searching are filled with creative and colorful cartoons.

36. If you need help in using Twitter to boost your career, Claire Diaz-Ortiz can guide you in the right direction.

37. Ryan Holmes is the CEO of Hootsuite, a social media management tool.

38. Customers are the lifeblood of a business and Colin Shaw focuses on revolutionizing this customer experience.

39. Brian Solis often reflects on the future of business and how technology can disrupt our world.

40. Nancy Lublin provides advice on more lighthearted topics, which are perfect after a long day’s work. She is the CEO behind Dosomething.org, a portal designed for social change; and the founder & CEO of Loris.ai and Crisis Text Line.

41. Katya Andresen provides advice on how to manage your career. She was the CEO of Cricket Media and now responsible for the SVP Card Customer Experience at Capital One.

42. Gallup has created a system to test what your strengths are and how to use them at work. Jim Clifton is the CEO of Gallup.

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43. Adam Grant is a Wharton Professor and the author of Give and Take, which provides advice on why being helpful at work can accelerate your career.

44. Hunter Walk is a partner at Homebrew Venture Capitalist Company and has specialty in product development and management.

45. If you’re running a nonprofit organization, follow Beth Kanter for expert advice on this area.

46. Emotional Intelligence is necessary to succeed in your career, and Daniel Goleman is your expert for that.

48. Tori Worthington Rose is a Creative Director at Mary Beth West Communications, LLC. She has extensive experience in sales and digital media.

49. If you’re looking for some advice on how to use writing and personal content marketing to boost your career, follow Ann Handley.

50. Tim Brown is the CEO at IDEO and shares his insights on Leadership and Creativity.

These are just some of the key thought leaders and movers in various industries. They will provide you with constant inspiration, as well as the willpower to pursue the career that you’ve always wanted. Their stream of expert ideas in their respective fields will help you become well-equipped in your professional pursuits.